As we bid Auld Lang Syne to the Old and usher in the New Beta, perhaps now is the perfect time to talk about what's coming up early 2018!

Beta Updates
In January, we will have first 'patch' for the Beta based off public playtesting & feedback. This will target the bigger offenders, while smaller changes will wait for more data. in March, we'll refine the Beta further. The WotDG will be given a bit more attention as it's a new book, so the scope of changes available will be larger and likely extend into February.

The DL still needs thorough playtesting & RT review before release; we will provide a more detailed update of progress in the next Blog.

New Books
There are two books which will continue their design work: Dread Elves & Infernal Dwarfs

Both of these already have design guidelines and conceptual groundwork, which may or may not be revised if deemed necessary by the RT. In many ways their Design Task Teams will have an advantage in knowing the Beta meta, not to mention that PRO, in general, should be more efficient and streamlined due to experience with previous books.

Auxiliary Armies
In response to growing calls from the community for more immersive over balanced design, we have decided to produce Auxiliary Armies - an initiative to make the Project more accessible and attractive to non-tourney hobbiests and players. It also gives us the chance to flesh out ideas that could not always be squeezed into a single army i.e. The Makkar and Asklander Barbarian tribal cultures.

We hope to produce one Auxiliary Army per 9th Scroll issue (perhaps a little too ambitious, but we'll see).

These side projects are not intended for competitive tourneys, and thus will not have quality BLT balancing or the RTASAW guidelines that the main army books do. Instead, the ambition is to create thematic armies that are simply great fun to play with friends who don’t mind a bit of power skew, or silliness. They will be short, rooted in our Background, with some key art and short text.

That’s not to say that Auxiliary Armies are fully disconnected from their parent book - they will reference and include many of the Core units and rules, but with a twist. Their content is considered 'canon' in the t9A world.

The Åsklanders Cometh!
The Åsklander Army is a work of love produced by the WotDG ADT in close collaboration with the WotDG ACS, and largely self determined in both limits and pricing. The culture is heavily Viking influenced, and will incorporate all barbarian units from the WotDG book, as well as a few other additions. If you love playing masses of angry Nordic troops and ice-themed units, then this should sate your cravings!

While the Åsklander barbarian culture shares some Magic with WotDG, it places a heavier emphasis on the Shamans to boost augment units in battle. Favours are not present at all, and Warrior units are very scarce.

Instead, we will see some iconic Nordic-themed infantry such as shield-biting warriors, led by mighty barbarian kings in longships with their bodyguard. The Jarls will be equipped with ancestral artifacts of renown, including a famous hammer...

That’s not to say the Åsklander men (and women) won’t have company. From the mysterious frozen North and icy seas will appear monstrous allies, some familiar, others never before encountered in the warmer South.

For a detailed spoiler review - look to our YouTube channel later today, for Art - check out Instagram, and we will try to field specific questions over Facebook as time permits

The Army will be available in the 9th Scroll on January 1st (tomorrow). [Read More]

As promised, here is the BTS blog containing all the rules for the new magic phase. Sadly, due to several different reasons, it got delayed (it was mainly my (@Kathal) fault, so blame me and not the other guys), however, better late than never, right?

We have divided the structure of this BTS blog into two parts. The first outlines the magic rules, while the second will deal with the Paths of Magic (expect around 6-10 days delay), since you HAVE TO READ the magic rules first before being able to understand the changes done to the Paths.

Here we are again with yet another publication of the Behind the Scenes blog,

You will quickly notice that this BTS is shorter in length than the previous ones, but also that it comes much shortly after in time. That is because we felt that adding more content to it would require significant more time, and there was some information that we really really wanted to share with you as soon as possible. So we have taken the decision to do an early release: today we will talk to you about the changes to Melee weapons and show you all the Weapon enchantments.

Let's see a list at the mundane weapons that you will find in the T9A 2nd Edition rulebook

Hand Weapon: All models comes equipped with a Hand Weapon as their default equipment. HandWeapons cannot be lost, destroyed or nullified by any means. If a model has any Melee Weapon other than a Hand Weapon, it cannot choose to use the Hand Weapon (unless specifically stated). Hand Weapons wielded by models on foot can be used alongside a Shield to get the Parry Defensive Trait.

Great Weapon Attacks made with a Great Weapon gain +2 Strength, +2 Armour Penetration and always strike at Initiative Step 0 (regardless of wielder’s Agility ). A model using this weapon cannot simultaneously use a Shield against Melee Attacks.

Halberd Attacks made with a Halberd gain +1 Strength and +1 Armour Penetration. A model using this weapon cannot simultaneously use a Shield against Melee Attacks

Paired weapons: The wielder gains +1 Attack Value when using this weapon. Attacks made with a Paired Weapons gain +1 Offensive Skill and ignore Parry. A model using this weapon cannot simultaneously use a Shield against Melee Attacks .

Spear: Attacks with a Spear gain Fight in Extra Ranks and +1 Armour Penetration and if allocated towards a Charging model, an additional +1 Armour Penetration. Close Combat Attacks from model parts wielding a Spear gain +2 Agility in the first Round of Combat provided they are not Charging and are not engaged either in their Flank or Rear. Cavalry, Beasts and Constructs cannot use Spears.

Unlike last issues, which had its sole focus on the Second Edition Magic Items, this issue will have a collage of topics with a whopping 5 talking points. Also, they are not on the smaller end of brevity either

As always, we have a dedicated discussion thread for this issue. If you have any follow up questions, comments, feedback or just want to discuss the topics in this issue, please do it here: Issue 10 Discussion Thread

Besides this, arguably the most important news posts in the last few weeks, we have a MASCOT NAMING COMPETITION going on. For more information about our new fellow, check out this link: The Goblin Mascot Naming Contest

This issue, we will focus on explaining how the new Magic items will work in the next edition of the game.

We could have included more topics, but we decided against it, since it would both mean a delay in publication as an overflow of information, so here we go with the important but "smaller" update!

As always, we have a dedicated discussion thread for this issue. If you have any follow up questions, comments, feedback or just want to discuss the topics in this issue, please do it here: Issue 9 Discussion Thread

Furthermore, there was a major news announcement on Saturday about the second Edition roadmap. You can find it here: The Ninth Age Second Edition - The Path Ahead. Check it out if you want to know, what the current time table looks like and when you can expect the next releases.[Read More]

As you can see, this time we will focus fully on the core rulebook changes. Things are getting more ready and even the magic items and magic phase start to be at a point where we may see some appearances in upcoming BTS publications...who knows

In the previous BTS issues we have covered most of the character profile changes that will be introduced as part of the new rulebook version. Changes that aim to bring more depth of design to the new rulebook rules, which should also help to better represent specific unit flavours in the future redesigns. And today we are bringing you the last update on attributes: Aim Shot.[Read More]

First and foremost, before getting into the spoilers, here are some updates regarding how the BTS-blog will evolve in the next weeks and months to come:

After tallying up the likes in the last issue, there was an overwhelming majority in favour of a more serious style with collapsible formatting. This means that we will continue in with this more serious style, but still try to also carter to those who preferred the old more relaxed style. Basically everything rules-, spoiler-, or management-related will be written in a more serious tone, while the intro, transitions between topics and ending should be more informal. It is an iffy balance we know, but a trial and error never hurt anyone (...said the surgeon).

Furthermore, after the flood of comments in the blog, we quickly realised that the Blog comments section does meet our needs for a good discussion, nor does it represent the various levels of interest in certain subtopics. Besides, it is a real pain to write longer explanations without the normal forum tools (and @Kathal gets grumpy after 200+ notifications - nah man ).

That's why we've decided to open a thread in the General Discussion sub-forum which is dedicated to each issue released.

We hope you are all enjoying this fine Spring in the very best war-gaming tradition - by staying indoors and preventing direct sunlight from exploding those FineCast models.

This episode, we've decided to test out a more 'condensed' format - but do not be deceived by first appearances - there are a LOT of spoilers in here for those keen to peer into the looking glass for a glimpse of what's coming in 2.0.